Maryland man discovered on website dedicated to incest discussions

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A non-commissioned Air Force officer was sentenced to 120 years in prison for six counts of sexually exploiting a minor to produce child pornography.

William S. Gazafi, 44, of Lusby, Maryland, pleaded guilty to the charges in May.

In August 2013, an undercover officer discovered Gazafi on a website dedicated to incest, court documents said. Gazafi engaged the officer in conversation and admitted to drugging and molesting several children, including an infant, according to court documents. He also sent the officer seven images, three of which were child porn he claimed to have produced himself, documents said. Gazafi was identified and arrested shortly thereafter.

Devices Gazafi was carrying at the time of his arrest and at his home contained images and video of child pornography produced by him and involving five children ages five months to seven years, according to prosecutors. He is accused of having distributed the images with others online and was in possession of more than 15,000 sexually abusive images of children.

His case was brought as part of a nationwide initiative, known as Project Safe Childhood, aimed at tackling an epidemic of child sexual abuse online.

Steve Vogt, special agent in charge of the FBI Baltimore Division, gave a statement praising the work of the agents who traced the crimes to Gazafi.

"Cases such as this serve as a reminder that in this day and age, a person’s status and position doesn’t immediately make him trustworthy," he said. "Today, our children and our community are safer because of the dedication the agents and detectives who worked this case showed in tracking down this man and making sure he spends the rest of his life in prison."